What is OFA ?

OFA is a non for profit foundation dedicted to improving the health and well being of companion animals through a reduction in the incidence of genetic disease. 

The foundation attributes the formation of the OFA mostly to John M Olin.  He was a well known inventor, industrialist, philanthropist, conservationist and sportsman and hunter.  When his dogs began to have trouble with hip displasia he organized an initial meeting with representatives of the veterinary community, the Golden Retriever Club Of America, and the German Sheperd Dog Club of America to discuss means of limiting the disease.  This ultimately led to the formation and incorporation of the OFA in 1966.  The initial mission of the OFA was to provide radiographics evaluation, data management, and genetic counseling for canine hip dysplasia. 

Canine's are not of certifiable age until two years old. 

The phenotypic evaluation of hips done by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals falls into seven different categories. Those categories are Normal (Excellent, Good, Fair), Borderline, and Dysplastic (Mild, Moderate, Severe). Once each of the radiologists classifies the hip into one of the 7 phenotypes above, the final hip grade is decided by a consensus of the 3 independent outside evaluations. Examples would be:

1. Two radiologists reported Excellent, one Good—the final grade would be Excellent
2. One radiologist reported Excellent, one Good, one Fair—the final grade would be Good
3. One radiologist reported Fair, two radiologists reported Mild—the final grade would be Mild

The hip grades of Excellent, Good and Fair are within normal limits and are given OFA numbers. This information is accepted by AKC on dogs with permanent identification (tattoo, microchip) and is in the public domain. Radiographs of Borderline, Mild, Moderate and Severely dysplastic hip grades are reviewed by the OFA radiologist and a radiographic report is generated documenting the abnormal radiographic findings.

Feathers And Fleece Farm will not breed a dog that does not fall into one of these categories.  At this time all of our OFA certifications fall into the top two ( numbers one and two ) catagories.  We refuse to use a sire that is not OFA certified with a good or excellent certification.

The OFA continues to focus on hip displasia, as well as other genetic disease.

OFA 's Recommended Breeding Principals and the principals we work within are as follows.

A.  To breed Normal rated to Noraml rated

B.  To breed Normal rated with Normal ancestry

C.  To breed normal rated from litters ( brothers / sisiters ? with low incidence of  hip dysplasia.

D.  To select a sire that produces a low incidence of hip dysplasia.

E.  To replace dogs with dogs that are better than the breed average.

When dealing with genetic unknowns, it is difficult to control the incidence of a polygenic disease. Phenotypic evaluations allow us to make assumptions on the dog's genetic makeup. However, too often, breeding decisions are based purely on the potential sire and dam's traits. Although progress towards a desired outcome can be achieved in this method, it will almost certainly be slow and result in surprises along the way. This is where health databases can play a significant role. As the database is populated, incorporating information not only on the parent's phenotype into the breeding decision, but phenotypic information from close relatives such as siblings, half siblings, aunts, uncles, grand-sires, and grand-dams becomes possible. This allows breeders to make a more accurate assumption regarding the potential sire and dam's genotype, and allows them to apply greater selective pressure to produce desired and avoid undesirable traits.

At the heart of the OFA's quest to assist breeders in lowering the incidence of genetic diseases are the OFA databases. When the OFA was formed in 1966, one of its main objectives was to "advise, encourage, and establish control programs to lower the incidence of orthopedic and genetic diseases". This objective remains firmly in place today. The databases of the OFA give breeders access to the health screening results of hundreds of thousands of dogs, allowing them to increase the selective pressure to produce healthy dogs free of inherited diseases.

The OFA's original interest was hip dysplasia. This continues to be a major focus of the organization today. However, in recent years, scientific advances and the enhanced ability to diagnose heritable diseases have led to the development of several additional databases. These include databases for elbow dysplasia, congenital cardiac disease, autoimmune thyroiditis, patellar luxation, a number of databases based on breed specific DNA tests, and the most recent additions, legg-calve-perthes (LCP) and sebaceous adenitis (SA).